Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge literal video version



( three more awesome videos under here )

What can I say? I haven't made a real update in a while. Mostly it's because life has kind of sucked for the past couple of months. Money's been especially tight, the heat is making us cranky and the boys have been bored. Bored kids mean a cranky, harassed mother and father.

My husband no is no longer part-owner in his business (which is a good thing), and so he is home a lot more than he ever has been before. This is taking us all some getting used to, but all in all it's really nice having him around.

This summer just hasn't been very exciting, and I am really looking forward to school starting again in a little over a month. I long to go back to work and have a regular schedule again. I got a call the other day from the new principal offering me a slightly different job (or jobs) than last year at the school, but pretty much the same hours. I am hoping this will help out with our financial situation and keep my hubby from going out to find a second job.

Other than that, things have been stressful, and I've been kind of depressed. I've kind of tried to adopt a "the past is the past, let it go" sort of theme. It's not always easy, but I find I worry a lot less about things I couldn't change, even if I wanted to. Now, if the present would stop sucking, life would be peachy! XD

I have gained an unacceptable amount of weight - probably due to stress-eating...so much so that I am getting embarrassed to even go out in public, even though I'm hardly monsterous. I think I am ready to actually buckle down and start keeping track of what I eat and marking down calories again. I just eat way too much crap, and I need to stop and try to purge some of the sugar out of my system.

I've rambled on for long enough. I didn't mean to be gloomy all over my f'list, but I needed to vent a little, so I don't blow up later.

**hugs to everyone**

Link of the day: Cow eating a chicken...no lie! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9vxHN8_jSE

( In the past three weeks I have read (not on Kindle though, just books): )



Plus several Harlequin romance novels - what can I say? It's a guilty pleasure hold over from my early twenties. They're cheese-tastic!

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Could a centaur be made into a werewolf or a vampire?


Discuss!

I'm thinking his mother made the right choice, here.

I have been feeling a bit off for a couple of weeks now. On Mother's day my sister and I took a trip up to the mountains to visit our parents and grandparents' graves. My ears never depressurized or whatever they do, so I am still slightly hard of hearing, and keep tripping over stuff because my equilibrium is a tad off. No biggie-- the nurse at the kids' school told me to take decongestants and it should clear up.

It didn't.

Now, I have some sort of crud that has my throat clogging up and making me stupid. By stupid, I mean, I turned onto the wrong street in my own neighborhood on my way home yesterday, and this morning I put my shorts on inside out, and it took me a while to figure out why I couldn't zip them up (thought I did get them buttoned). I've been sleeping a lot for the past couple of days, so hopefully my body is trying to fight whatever it is.

I am losing my voice, now. I told my husband and he said, "YAY! I mean--AWWW." He's funny.

In other news, my son accidentally stepped on my computer, and now I need a new screen for my laptop. *sigh* There's a couple hundred dollars I really would have preferred not to pay out. It could have been worse, and accidents happen.

Other than that, life is kind of Meh. Summer break has begun and the kids are already bored. Pray for me!

Hope everyone else is having a better time of it!

Just random. Take them if you like them.

Edit - also one friends only banner thingy.

Sample:


( More behind the cut.. )

This is the second time in a row that I have made shepherd's pie that has been rendered inedible by BROKEN GLASS. Seriously--WTF?

The first time it was a Pyrex measuring cup that chipped and the glass chips fell into the food below. The second time, the whole casserole dish (also Pyrex) fell from the counter (it was stupidly balanced on a stack of baking sheets) and shattered all over the place. *sigh*

Also, THIS makes me laugh. A LOT.

In other news, some stuff happened, other stuff didn't, I've been busy, but there have been catastrophes.

How is everyone else?

see more pwn and owned pictures

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4787/shaveqj4.jpg

Seriously. WTF?

Found my first gray hair yesterday.

That is all.

My father in law took my kids up north for a couple of days, so today I indulged in a trip to the movies. Two, movies, actually, though the second wasn't really worth seeing.

First, Watchmen - I liked it, though it left me wishing that I knew more about the characters before I went into it. It was extremely violent with many characters without morals or any hint of conscience--there was sex, nudity, foul language and gore. If those aren't something you tolerate well, better give this movie a skip. It had a good plot, and I liked the characters though and it also had a lot of dark humor in the right places. I give it a grade of "B".

One bad thing about my experience was that a woman around my age saw fit to bring three SMALL CHILDREN with her to this show. Kids below the age of eight do NOT need to be exposed to this sort of thing, and I was pretty appalled that she didn't leave the theatre within the first five minutes so that her kids wouldn't have to. Alas, it was not to be--at least they sat as far away from me as was humanly possible.

The second movie I saw was Twilight. For those of you who liked it, read no further. I will say right now that I have NOT read the books, and this movie firmly quashed any teeny tiny pique of curiosity that might have led me to do so. I now understand why there were so many ten year old girls in the theatre when I went--it's basically aimed at their demographic, in my opinion. The characters were flat and unappealing, the scenes that were supposed to be romantic with the scenery were overkill and boring and the main characters were completely improbable. I was prepared to find it hokey and a little dumb, but it went beyond that to just plain stupid. D-

Anyway, that was my day in a nutshell, and now I am preparing to go to a wedding reception that I had forgotten all about until about an hour ago when my sister called to remind me. See ya later!

I did not know you could get a sinus infection so painful that it hurt to have your TEETH touch each other.

Now I know.

Called in sick today, went to doctor. Got antibiotics, but because I am allergic to pretty much everything, he had to give me one with possible neurological side effects (!?), which is something I would try to avoid even if I didn't have MS. Still--I'm pretty sure I've taken it before, and nothing bad happened. Also, I am allergic to codeine, so none of the good cough syrup for me...I just have to wait for the pain to subside.

*insert sadface here*


Have another link: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/03/07/clever-and-creative-bus-advertising/

Carnival is DONE! It went much smoother this year, and I think a lot of that had to do with changing the company that supplied all of our attractions. I also made extensive lists of every imaginable detail, and lai_lore was there to keep me on track and keep me calm. I tried to give her my firstborn in thanks, but she said I could keep him.

All in all, I was NOT optimistic about it being a money-maker. I knew going into it that the economy was bad, and that people were spending less and were feeling pinched, financially. We didn't get even a quarter of the donations for our raffle that we usually get from local businesses, and I ended up buying quite a few of them, myself. We ask parents to supply cases of water and soda for resale and candy to put in baggies for the fishing game, and those were very skimpy this year, as well. I feel really bad that everyone is having such a hard time, and here I was asking them for more--but good luck was on my side, and we had just enough of everything. We ended up making just over $2000 after all of the bills for running it had been paid, and I am ECSTATIC about it! Since I have taken over the carnival (this was my third year) we have doubled our intake, and even though our final total was about thousand less than in normal years, I was originally hoping to break even, so all is well.

We had a rock climbing wall, a velcro wall, a petting zoo, joust, giant slide and obstacle courses--the works. The weather was gorgeous and I think everyone had a good time. I am SO relieved that it's over!

Other than that, my niece got married and is now on her honeymoon! Unfortunately, I missed the reception and stuff because of the carnival (which I had planned long before she had chosen a wedding date). She's cool with it, and I gave them a kick-ass gift, so no harm done.

I am also Sick (yes, with a capital S). It started as a head cold, and has now advanced to what I think must be a sinus and/or ear infection. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and will get something for it, hopefully. I have been suffering through it for over a week now, and it's only getting worse. I think I will take a half day tomorrow from work, after my appointment, and give the meds time to get started on making me all better.

I can't really think of anything else to report--this cold has had me in a fog, and I will be surprised if all of this post makes sense when I go back and read it in a few days.

Here's a fun link, just for randomness: http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/

I just finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman today, and have to say, I enjoyed it. I was sorry when it ended, and I had a lot of questions left unanswered about the worlds and characters it explored. It was a fast read--I finished it in three days, which is relatively fast for me, considering how little time I have to read for pleasure.

All in all, I give it two thumbs up! Go read it!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've really updated, hasn't it? Where do I start?

My birthday was FABULOUS! I wend to Disneyland with my sister (you can sign up on their website to get in for free on your birthday). It was just a turn around trip: left on Friday afternoon, went to the park Saturday, drove home Sunday. It rained pretty much the whole time, but was SO MUCH FUN! We wore ponchos and pretty much went on every ride we wanted with less than a five minute wait for most of them. There were TONS of people there with the same birthday as me, and we had a great time wishing them all a happy birthday when we saw the pins. There was at least a hundred others there with my birthday.

Also for my birthday, I received the book Wicked Lovely by Marissa Marr from lai_lore. I really enjoyed it! So much so that I went out and bought the second book in the series, Ink Exchange and devoured that, as well. I am looking forward to the release of the third book, soon. I can recommend it, if you like stories about faeries that aren't rainbows and sunshine. It had an interesting plot, complex characters and left me wanting to know more...that's what I look for in a book, so it gets a thumbs up from me.

Things have otherwise been going well, but been really, really, really busy! I'm still working at the school as a Kindergarten/First grade aide, and am a second grade reading coach in the afternoons. I am really enjoying the kids, and seeing their progress! I am still the PTO president, and am planning the annual carnival again. Mini-panic attacks, ahoy! It's on March 7th, and I am SO NOT READY! (Boy, I have a judicious use of capital letters in this, don't I?) Things will work out, I'm sure, but it's still nerve wracking.

Sadly, we learned the other day that our principal (who we all adore) will be leaving for another school at the end of this year. It's sad, but I am glad he is getting an opportunity to do what he is being offered, since it is what he's always wanted. SO, we need a new principal, and apparently the district narrows it down to a handful of candidates, and then representatives from different departments of the school all get together of a committee and interview and get a huge say in who gets chosen. I have been asked to be on the committee to represent the support staff at the school, and as a parent, PTO member and blah, blah, blah. i hope we get someone good--the one we have now is going to be hard to beat!

In other news, I put my cell phone through the washing machine (again). My husband (who loves me more than I deserve) got me a new one today, and I am still trying to figure out how it works. If I had your number before, I don't have it now, so feel free to text me with it, so I can reprogram my phone.

Today was a good day. After school I took the kids to a book signing by Brandon Mull, who wrote the Fablehaven series and The Candy Shop War. It was very enjoyable, and he answered a lot of questions and gave us some insights into this writing style and hints about coming projects.

As soon as we got finished at the book signing, I remembered that there was a Boy Scout banquet tonight, and had to run to the store to buy food for side dishes I was supposed to bring. It wall worked out, but it was a busy day, and I think I am going to have an early night!

I haven't been checking my flist or checking in with friends lately, and I am sorry about that. If you have news, link me to the entry, or drop a note here to let me know how you're doing!

*SQUISHES YOU ALL*

I made it home safely from Disneyland, and am nursing a cold, but had a WONDERFUL time!!

Have a Happy Holiday, no matter what holiday you celebrate! For those of you who don't celebrate at all, I wish for a happy, healthy and fortuitous New Year!

So, a little update. Today was a good day. I got a pedicure (mostly so I could sit in that message chair they have!), got a hair cut, went grocery shopping, did some laundry, sent two fliers home with the kids for PTO and got a new job.

The new job is to replace my old job in the school media center...the school didn't have the funds to keep paying for extra help there, and though the librarian wants me instead of the other helper, they have to keep her because she signed a contract that promises her a certain number of hours each week for one year...that's how they convinced her to retire last year. She is the slowest, most UN-detail-oriented person I think I have ever met, and should not be allowed to shelve books, but it's not my call. I can still substitute teach the media classes should the need arise, but that's it.

HOWEVER! The kindergarten aide quit, and so I am going to be working in the kindergarten classroom sixteen hours a week, from eight in the morning, to 11:15 each school day. This is infinitely better than the three to four hours a week I was getting helping in the library. I can definitely use the extra money. I have been warned that the teacher in the kindergarten room treated one of the other aides like a toddler with a deficient IQ, and her most recent aide quit...but I think I can handle it. I can let a lot of things slide off my back, if I'm getting paid, and if it gets too bad, I'll simply tell her that I'm not an idiot, and to please not treat me like one. I spoke to the teacher briefly today after school, and she said I would be working with the kids one on one helping them master counting and reading basics. I am looking forward to it!

I shall be starting tomorrow!

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I have avoided much of the viruses and colds and things going around, and credit exposure to the kids in small doses, and taking vitamins every day with keeping me well (touch wood). The boys are enjoying school, for the most part, and Kris is busy, as always.

How's everyone in LJ land? Good, I hope!